South Korea invests billions in Nvidia Blackwell chips to build AI factories, autonomous cars, and a national AI cloud.
What are Blackwell AI chips?
Nvidia created the Blackwell chips These are a new generation, following the Hopper chips Blackwell has 208 billion transistors This chip offers 30 times faster inference while also providing 4 times faster training speed Each chip has 8 HBM3E memory units The price is approximately $30,000 per chip, and is this chip special? Yes Best for physical AI. It powers robots, handles factory automation, and is used in self-driving cars Nvidia is offering it in the RTX Pro 6000 version This is the server edition, for physical AI and robotics. In Korea, these chips will transform factories, connecting Nvidia Blackwell with NVLink This allows multiple chips to work together CUDA-Q is also included, and Isaac Sim simulates robots NIM microservices make AI easier; it will require HBM memory Approximately 2 million units Samsung and SK Hynix will supply them.
South Korea’s AI Ambitions
South Korea is a world leader It makes smartphones, chips, and cars. Now it wants to be in the top 3 in AI The government has launched a Sovereign AI plan This means its own AI system, with no external dependencies And why so quickly? Because of the US-China trade war Nvidia sells fewer chips to China The US imposed restrictions in the name of national security Therefore, Nvidia is focusing on countries like Korea Korea is a friend of the US; there are no problems President Lee Jae-myung also emphasizes AI to improve the economy The economy is affected by US tariffs,
but AI will bring growth and increase jobs Korea will become an AI hub In Asia, the government’s Ministry of Science and ICT is leading the way They are building a National AI Computing Center, supporting startups They already have 65,000 chips, and this will increase to over 300,000 This is a huge jump Korea will export intelligence, changing the world.
Complete Deal Breakdown
This is a massive deal Over 260,000 GPUs in total The largest deployment Blackwell chips are key, so let’s see what each company is getting The government will take over 50,000 chips for the National AI Computing Center, along with NHN Cloud, Kakao, and Naver Cloud Initially 13,000 Blackwell GPUs, then increasing to 50,000 They will build sovereign clouds Samsung Electronics will take over 50,000 GPUs, building an AI factory for intelligent manufacturing It will use the Nemotron dataset, create digital twins with CUDA-X, Qulitho, Omniverse, Cosmos, Isaac Sim, and Isaac Lab, and develop home robots The SK Group will also take over 50,000 GPUs for Asia’s first industrial AI cloud, using RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell for physical AI and robotics SK Telecom will provide the sovereign cloud.
GPUs-as-a-Service for Startups
Hyundai Motor Group will build an AI factory with 50,000 Blackwell GPUs, investing $3 billion in AI model training, validation, deployment, and autonomous driving They will have a Physical AI Application Center and an Nvidia AI Technology Center, and regional AI data centers Naver Cloud will take over 60,000 GPUs, including RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Sovereign and physical AI workloads shipbuilding models security models Nemotron open models other companies involved include LG AI Research NC AI, Upstage, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), and Samsung’s plan How will the AI factory transform Samsung, which is a major global company? It makes chips and will now build an AI factory Computation with 50,000 GPUs from Nemotron, post-training with CUDA-X, then lithography with Qulitho
Digital twin from Omniverse Virtual model of the factory, robot testing with Isaac Sim, learning with Isaac Lab This will speed up production and improve quality Samsung also makes HBM and supplies it to Nvidia, but will now use it itself
Samsung’s goal? Intelligent manufacturing
Home robots AI-optimized design Less waste Higher speed This change is significant It will boost Korea’s economy Skilled workers in jobs. Will Samsung become a leader? Yes, with AI, which is the dream of SK Group’s industrial AI cloud SK Group is a big name It will take more than 50,000 GPUs It will build an AI factory Asia’s first industrial AI cloud With RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Physical AI workloads Robotics SK Hynix makes HBM Supplies it to Nvidia Now uses it in its own factory Simulation with PhysicsNemo Physics-informed AI models AI agents for 40,000 employees and SK Telecom will provide a sovereign cloud Service to startups GPU on demand This will increase innovation SK is participating in the Nvidia Inception program With IMM Investment, Korea Investment Partners, SBVA Helping startups. N-Up AI Incubation
How this plan will work
The industry will use AI from the cloud. Small businesses too. Jobs will increase in Korea. Tech exports will be led by SK Group along with Hyundai: AI revolution in cars.
Hyundai is a car company that will acquire 50,000 Blackwell GPUs. $3 billion investment will transform AI factory manufacturing, autonomous driving, but will train AI models. Validate and deploy in-vehicle AI. Smart factories, robotics. Physical AI application center, Nvidia AI.E-Technology Center Regional Data Centers will still build Hyundai supercomputers for cars Self-driving tech will increase safety and speed Will Hyundai become a global leader? Yes, AI makes cars smarter, strengthening the Korean auto industry Jobs for engineers, then Never Cloud the foundation of Sovereign AI, yet Never Cloud has over 60,000 GPUs RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Sovereign AI workloads, physical AI, then will build shipbuilding models, security, Nemotron open models, industry-specific models for enterprise.
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